While the majority of people surveyed read the news regularly, 38 percent said they avoid news often or sometimes — up from 29 percent in 2017, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism said in its annual Digital News Report. .
And about 36 percent – especially those under the age of 35 – say the news makes them feel bad.
Confidence in the news is also declining, and is at the lowest level in the United States. On average, 42 percent of people said they trust most news most of the time. This number decreased in nearly half of the countries included in the report, and rose in seven.
“A large number of people view the media as subject to undue political influence, and only a small minority believe that most news organizations put the interest of society before their commercial interest,” Reuters Institute Director Rasmus Claes Nielsen wrote in the report.
The report was based on an online survey of 93,432 people in 46 markets.
The report found that younger audiences are increasingly getting news through platforms such as TikTok, and have weak links with news media.
The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism is funded by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Thomson Reuters.
The poll’s margin of error is 2-3 percentage points.
